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Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Graph Shows Fraud in Russian Elections
* Firefly Lives - New Comics in 2008
* Jimmy Wales Says Students 'Should Use' Wikipedia
* Nanotube-Excreting Bacteria Allow Mass Production
* CompUSA To Close All Stores
* NYT Editorial Slams ISPs Over Online Freedom
* Open Source 'Sage' Takes Aim at High End Math Software
* Adaptive Thirty Meter Telescope Sees Progress
* Gene Found to Explain Repeated Mistakes
* Ruby on Rails 2.0 is Done
* Using Wireless Signals in Games
* Fighting Spam Through Regulation and Economics
* Amazon Gift Ordering Patent Revoked In EU
* The Role of Retroviruses in Human Evolution
* Nanorobots for Drug Delivery?

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Graph Shows Fraud in Russian Elections |
| from the little-to-the-left dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday December 07, @20:08 (Censorship) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/07/2222212 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]gaika writes "A graph in the best traditions of [1]Edward Tufte shows
how [2]the voting was rigged in Russian parliament elections. Initially
some regions were showing higher than 100% attendance, but later on
everything was corrected, or way too much corrected, as the correlation
between winning party's vote and attendance now stands at 90%. I guess
the people who have rigged the vote have never heard about [3]Correlation
Cofficient."

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/07/2222212

Links:
0. http://krotty.livejournal.com/
1. http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/
2. http://krotty.livejournal.com/36604.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_coefficient


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Firefly Lives - New Comics in 2008 |
| from the told-you-they-couldn't-take-the-sky-from-me dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Friday December 07, @22:16 (Sci-Fi) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/07/2230214 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]gambit3 writes "'Serenity: Better Days' will be released as a 3 part
comic in early 2008. The series is a step back in time to [1]the early
years of the Firefly crew, and the fledgling gang's turbulent attempts to
cope with success after they pull off their first successful heist. It
features the same creative team as Those Left Behind, with the story by
Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews, art by Will Conrad, and Adam Hughes
providing all three covers this time." Ironic, considering today's
[2]brand-new poll.

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/07/2230214

Links:
0. http://www.neolibrarium.com/
1. http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12516
2. http://slashdot.org/pollBooth.pl?qid=1495&aid=-1


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Jimmy Wales Says Students 'Should Use' Wikipedia |
| from the taking-himself-too-seriously dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 08, @01:41 (Education) |
| http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/0639246 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "The BBC has up an article chatting with
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. [0]Wales views the Wikipedia site as an
educational resource, and apparently thinks teachers who downplay the
site are 'bad educators'. '[A] perceived lack of authority ... has drawn
criticism from other information sources. Ian Allgar of Encyclopedia
Britannica maintains that, with 239 years of history and rigorous
fact-checking procedures, Britannica should remain a leader in
authoritative, politically-neutral information. Mr Allgar pointed out the
trustworthy nature of paid-for, thoroughly-reviewed content, and noted
that Wikipedia is still prone to vandalism.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/0639246

Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7130325.stm


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nanotube-Excreting Bacteria Allow Mass Production |
| from the building-tech-from-the-ground-up dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 08, @03:23 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/0644233 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Invisible Pink Unicorn writes "Engineers at the University of
California, Riverside have found [1]semiconducting nanotubes produced by
living bacteria ?€? a discovery that could help in the creation of a new
generation of nanoelectronic devices. This is the first time nanotubes
have been shown to be produced by biological rather than chemical means.
In a process that is not yet fully understood, the bacterium secretes
polysacarides that seem to produce the template for the arsenic-sulfide
nanotubes. These nanotubes behave as metals with electrical and
photoconductive properties useful in nanoelectronics. The [2]article
abstract is available from the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/0644233

Links:
0. http://filer.case.edu/bct4
1. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-12/uoc--nbs120707.php
2. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0707595104v1


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| CompUSA To Close All Stores |
| from the actually-kind-of-liked-them dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 08, @05:11 (Businesses) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/076226 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Mexican telephone and retail magnate Carlos
Slim, in a rare defeat, will exit the US consumer electronics market,
[0]shutting the last 100 CompUSA Inc. stores after sinking about $2
billion into the business. Gordon Brothers Group, a Boston-based retail
store liquidator, will oversee a piecemeal sale of the Dallas-based
business, the company said in a statement. Financial terms were not
disclosed. Stores will remain open through year-end under the supervision
of Gordon Brothers, which will also negotiate the sale of real estate and
other assets."

Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/076226

Links:
0. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/07/BU3ETQI3S.DTL


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NYT Editorial Slams ISPs Over Online Freedom |
| from the the-goal-is-less-sharing dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 08, @07:21 (The Internet) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/0712235 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Erris writes "The New York Times site is running an opinion piece from
last weekend which lambasts Yahoo! (and other US ISPs) for cooperating
with China and other repressive governments. '[0]Yahoo's collaboration is
appalling, and Yahoo is not the only American company helping the Chinese
government repress its people ... Last January, Representative
Christopher Smith of New Jersey reintroduced the Global Online Freedom
Act in the House. It would fine American companies that hand over
information about their customers to foreign governments that suppress
online dissent.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/0712235

Links:
0. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/opinion/02sun2.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Open Source 'Sage' Takes Aim at High End Math Software |
| from the that'll-take-awhile dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday December 08, @09:15 (Math) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/1350258 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]coondoggie writes "A [1]new open source mathematics program is looking
to push aside commercial software commonly used in mathematics education,
in large government laboratories and in math-intensive research. The
program's backers say the software, called Sage, can do anything from
mapping a 12-dimensional object to calculating rainfall patterns under
global warming."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/1350258

Links:
0. http://networkworld.com/
1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/22768


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Adaptive Thirty Meter Telescope Sees Progress |
| from the thats-a-whole-lotta-space dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday December 08, @10:18 (Space) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/1348247 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Hugh Pickens writes "Caltech and the University of California have
been making progress toward the [1]development and construction of the
Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) with the recent $200 million commitment from
the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The core of the TMT Observatory
will be a wide-field, alt-az Ritchey-Chretien telescope with a 492
segment, 30 meter diameter primary mirror, a fully active secondary
mirror and an articulated tertiary mirror. TMT will be the first
ground-based astronomy telescope [2]designed with adaptive optics as an
integral system element that will sense atmospheric turbulence in
real-time, correct the optical beam of the telescope to remove its
effect, and enable true diffraction-limited imaging on the ground. TMT
will have 144 times the collecting area of the Hubble Space Telescope and
a spatial resolution at near-infrared and longer wavelengths more than
ten times better, equivalent to observing above the Earth's atmosphere
for many observations at a fraction of the cost of a space-based
observatory. TMT will reach further and see more clearly than previous
telescopes by a factor of 10 to 100 depending on the observation and will
be a fundamental tool for the [3]investigation of large-scale structure
in the young universe including the era in which most of the stars and
heavy elements were formed."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/1348247

Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://www.tmt.org/news/moore.html
2. http://www.tmt.org/observatory/index.html
3. http://www.tmt.org/science/index.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Gene Found to Explain Repeated Mistakes |
| from the oh-wait-for-the-joke dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday December 08, @11:23 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/1414258 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]palegray.net writes "A December 6th [1]article in Nature explores the
relationship between a specific gene and those of us prone to repeatedly
making the same mistakes. From the article: "Drug addicts, alcoholics and
compulsive gamblers are known to be more likely than other people to have
this genetic mutation ..." The gene results in the development of fewer
D2 receptors in the brain, a condition which the study has shown leads to
a lessened ability to learn from experience." So no complaining about
dupes and typos: it's genetic!

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/1414258

Links:
0. http://alliwantforchristmasismoney.com/
1. http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071206/full/news.2007.358.html


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ruby on Rails 2.0 is Done |
| from the i-miss-perl dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday December 08, @12:26 (Programming) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/1420213 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Jamie noted that [0]ruby on rails 2.0 is done. In addition to upgrade and
installation instructions, the article lists a number of the more
interesting new features in the release which appears to be quite
extensive.

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/1420213

Links:
0. http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2007/12/7/rails-2-0-it-s-done


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Using Wireless Signals in Games |
| from the something-to-play-with dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday December 08, @13:32 (Portables (Ga|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/154203 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

MetaByte writes "A swiss group has created a game for the Nintendo DS
that [0]utilizes the surrounding WiFi transmissions to set up the game
world. By moving through the city, the game changes. Another game for the
Nintendo DS creates an [1]audible city from the wlan-waves. The Austrian
artist Gordan Savicic takes the wlan landscape to a [2]painful level. The
density of the waves and strength of the encryption cause servos to
tighten a corset. Moving lets you feel being disclosed of encrypted
digital worlds that turns into useless electrosmog."

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/154203

Links:
0. http://www.and-or.ch/wardive/
1. http://www.and-or.ch/sniff_jazzbox/
2. http://pain.yugo.at/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Fighting Spam Through Regulation and Economics |
| from the follow-the-money-stupid dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday December 08, @14:40 (The Almighty |
| http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/1532231 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Bryan29 writes ""Next door to our offices was a spam operation... One day
they weren't there anymore". Apparently in the past several months some
black hat SEO companies (comment spammers) closed shop. Mr. Evron
explores using a couple of case studies how spam was directly impacted by
the UIGEA online Casinos law, disallowing payment processing, and how the
subprime mortgage collapse made many former clients of spammers "move
on". The article [0]draws its conclusions from an economic standpoint
"Perhaps the next step policy makers should take is to work to change
this economy, possibly by legalizing and regulating ... More to the
point, they can make the act of processing funds for this type of
operation illegal.""

Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/1532231

Links:
0. http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=720


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Amazon Gift Ordering Patent Revoked In EU |
| from the merriest-gift-of-all dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 08, @15:29 (The Internet) |
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/1815226 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Elektroschock writes "The Amazon gift ordering patent was [1]revoked
by the European Patent Office. In a press release they write: 'The
so-called 'Gift Order Patent' has been revoked by the EPO in an
opposition proceeding today after a hearing involving three opposing
parties and the patent proprietor, Amazon Inc. The patent relates to a
method for purchasing goods over the Internet to be sent as gifts.' Santa
did not have to lodge opposition against [2]the patent. The opponents
were [3]Fleurop, the [4]FFII and the [5]German computer science society.
What strikes me is that so many parties were infringing upon the patent,
and yet you need very few organizations to file an opposition. Why are
not more patents opposed?"

Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/1815226

Links:
0. mailto:elektroschock@linuxmail.org
1. http://www.epo.org/topics/news/2007/20071207.html
2. http://v3.espacenet.com/textclam?DB=EPODOC&IDX=EP0927945&CY=ep&QPN=EP0927945
3. http://www.fleurop.com/
4. http://www.affii.org/
5. http://www.gi-ev.de/english/


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Role of Retroviruses in Human Evolution |
| from the gotta-love-that-twisty-tree-of-life dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 08, @16:38 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/1822225 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

mhackarbie writes "The current edition of the New Yorker magazine has up
a story about endogenous [0]retroviruses in the genomes of humans and
other species. Although researchers have known about such non-functional
retroviral 'fossils' in the human genome for some time, the large amount
of recent genomic data underscores just how pervasive they are, in a
compelling tale that involves humans, their primate cousins, and a
variety of viral invaders. Some researchers are even bringing back
non-functional viral remnants from the dead by fixing their broken
genes."

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/1822225

Links:
0. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/03/071203fa_fact_specter


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nanorobots for Drug Delivery? |
| from the best-way-is-the-nano-way dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Saturday December 08, @18:07 (Biotech) |
| http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/08/1826202 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Roland Piquepaille writes "The idea of using nanorobots to [1]deliver
drugs and fight diseases such as cancers is not new. But there are still
lots of issues to solve before nanorobots can diagnose our diseases and
treat them. Now, an international team of researchers has designed a
software and hardware platform of [2]a nanorobot to be used in medical
applications. The researchers think their nanorobots could become
available around 2015. 'The proposed platform should enable patient
pervasive monitoring, and details are given in prognosis with nanorobots
application for intracranial treatments. This integrated system also
points towards precise diagnosis and smart drug delivery for cancer
therapy.'"

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/12/08/1826202

Links:
0. http://www.primidi.com/2007/12/08.html
1. http://www.primidi.com/2004/08/23.html
2. http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/lab/32077



Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.


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